Lincoln County accepts trails plan

December 19, 2012

IVANHOE - The Lincoln County Board on Tuesday voted to accept a comprehensive trails plan presented by a representative of the National Park Service.

For now, that means forming a county-wide trails committee to consider ways and means of funding.

The preliminary plan was presented by Holly Larson, outdoor recreation planner for the NPS office in St. Paul, and includes a 10-year schedule for connecting existing trails throughout the county and creating new trails of dirt, crushed rock, asphalt or boardwalks for ecologically sensitive areas. Different proposed trails would be designed for hikers, cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing, horse riding, ATV and off-road vehicles and snowmobiling.

The motion to start organizing a trails committee passed, with Commissioner Adam Gillund voting against it.

Gillund declined to elaborate on the reason for his opposition at this time.

In other business, the board approved two motions at the recommendation of Environmental Director Robert Olsen. The board approved ditch assessments for 17 county ditches in amounts ranging from $2,000 to $60,000, payable to the Ditch Repair Funds in 2013.

The board also approved a transfer of $161,000 as of Dec. 31 from the general fund to seven ditch systems with deficit cash balances at 2012 year end, to be reimbursed in 2013.

At Olsen's request, the board voted to enter into a service contract with Environmental GIS Consulting for geographical information systems updates, at a rate of $26 per hour, and a budget for 2013 of $12,000 on an as-needed basis. Gillund was the only dissenting vote.

At the request of County Engineer Lee Amundson, the board agreed to declare about a half-dozen two-way radios used by the highway department as surplus and advertise them for sale.

The board also agreed to consider a request by Emergency Director Jeanna Sommers for a salary increase of $4,000 per year at a later date.

Sommers was hired last year on the understanding there would be a salary review after one year on the job.